Delayed referral for liver transplant evaluation worsens outcomes in chronic liver disease patients requiring inpatient transplant evaluation

Table 3 Pre-transplant clinical and demographic factors, %

	Delayed	Early	P value
Education			0.14
Highschool or less	62.6	50.7
College degree or more	14.7	23.4
Substance use
Smoking history	55.1	57.3	0.15
Drinking history	62.8	74.3	0.12
Sobriety period			< 0.01
< 6 mo	22.4	59.0
6 mo – 2 yrs	53.0	26.2
> 2 yrs	23.6	14.8
Psychosocial factors
Depression history	39.7	28.0	0.12
Trauma history	9.0	2.4	0.07
Public insurance	50.0	50.0	1.00
Non-English first language	20.5	13.6	0.24
Lives with family	78.2	80.2	0.75
Married/stable partner	67.5	52.4	0.05
Unstable housing	6.4	4.9	0.68
Military service history	3.8	8.6	0.21
Worked within 1 mo	7.7	22.2	<0.01
Worked within 1 yr	24.4	49.4	<0.01
Clinical care
Outpatient GI documentation	83.3	78.0%
Ascites on diuretics	90.7	90.3	0.94
Ascites with regular paracentesis	32.0	25.0	0.35
On lactulose/rifaximin	85.0	90.5	0.39
Midodrine	42.9	46.0	0.81
Regular labs	n = 59	n = 40
Low albumin	89.8	77.5	0.09
High ALT/AST	93.2	87.5	0.31
High INR	84.7	72.5	0.14
Prior decompensations
Ascites	96.2	87.8	0.05
Jaundice	66.7	68.3	0.83
Variceal bleed	35.9	29.3	0.37
Hepatic encephalopathy	78.2	64.2	0.06
Hepatorenal syndrome	35.9	31.7	0.58
Hepatic hydrothorax	11.5	9.8	0.72
Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis	21.8	24.4	0.68

Comparison of psychosocial and clinical data from prior to liver transplant evaluation (LTE) in patients with delayed compared to early LTE. Psychiatric comorbidities including depression and trauma occurred more in delayed LTE. Working history was strongly associated with timely referral. Data reported as percentages of group for categorical data; as average (standard deviation) for normally distributed continuous data. Comparisons were made using students T tests and comparison of proportions test. AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; GI: Gastrointestinal; INR: International normalized ratio.